When a surgeon is accessing a region to be repaired such as the disc space between adjacent vertebrae, great care must be taken to avoid injury to the exposed nerve root.
Dural tears, nerve root damage, bleeding and infection, operating on the wrong level or on the wrong side are as real issues in all spinal surgeries.
With thoracic approaches, pneumothorax is also a possibility.
In addition, some injuries may be underestimated or even go unnoticed, such as a dural tear under the low-pressure irrigation.
It is an objective of the present invention to further minimize the potential for such complications by providing a unique protective tissue protector or nerve shield made in accordance to the invention as disclosed herein.